Chilli con Carne with Baked Beans

Wednesday is my busy day in term time.  Princess is collected by Special Needs Transport just after 8am, I then harangue Sprout & Big Boy to finish eating/getting ready to walk them round the corner to school for 8.45am.  Then the day starts.  And thankfully it wasn't a low calorie day.

On Wednesday's I spend all morning cooking for the local Country Market.  Today I cooked four pots of vegetarian Minestrone, and a total of walnut, granary, seeded, & rosemary and garlic loaves.  I then assemble a quick lunch, and walk round the corner to the local school planning a what I am going to do to entertain 8 five & six year olds in French Club for an hour.  Just after 2pm I rushed home to put the Chilli con Carne on to cook, and the baked potatoes in the oven before heading out to the school again for 3.25pm to collect Sprout & Big Boy and get home before 4pm to greet Princess off her bus. I wrestle Princess' coat off her whilst she usually slouches unco-operatively in her wheelchair, do her blood sugar test as she has Type 1 diabetes.  She is high at 18.7 so I calm the others down whilst I inject her with insulin.  Then crack on with tea as Sprout has to leave the house at 5.30pm for swimming lessons for the first time after school.

Thankfully tea was a big success.  And Dad was home early after a doctor's appointment so volunteered to take Sprout swimming.  This gave me time to finish typing and printing the labels I need for the market tomorrow.  And then to cap it all the carer announces she has found head lice on Big Boy and we need to comb through all the kids hair - easier said than done when one can't sit or stand.  So now they all have various stages of lice.  Aside from that a normal Wednesday.

Chilli con Carne with Baked Beans
I usually make this with red kidney beans, but I forgot to soak enough last night so decided to use baked beans which made this pleasantly sweet, and recognisable to the kids.  I also forwent the green pepper and carrot listed below as I discovered some Provencal Tomato Sauce in the back of fridge that had all this in and needed using.

Made with 500g/1lb of beef this serves 6-8 people.  I'm going to freeze the other half.

1 medium onion
1 large clove of garlic
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 medium carrot
1 stick celery
1 green pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tins baked beans or 250g beans, soaked and pre-cooked

500g lean beef mince

Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Finely chop the carrot, celery, and green pepper and add these when chopped. Stir and put the lid on for a few minutes to let the vegetables sweat. Add the beef, and cook breaking up with a wooden spoon.  When mostly browned add the tomatoes, 1 can of water, beans, cumin and oregano. Stir, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes stir regularly to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Check the seasoning before serving.

2 ladles of chilli - NO cheese, potato, or sour cream/greek yoghurt - is approximately 200cals.